Torres and Gonzalez wanted to use friends' father's pick-up

Last week, Morgan County Sheriff's Office investigator Jon Holt discussed multiple conversations he had with a former friend of Freddy Torres and Juan Anthony Cisneros Gonzalez - each charged with double murder in the deaths of Destiny McMinn and Santos Macias - and how Torres and Gonzalez had attempted to enlist the friend in helping them move two bodies last March.

Holt testified that he called Jose Paredes on July 18 after learning about Parades' friendship with Torres and Gonzalez to see if he would be willing to talk with the investigator. Holt said he asked Paredes near the start of that call if he knew why Holt wanted to speak with him and Paredes responded that it was because Torres and Gonzalez had "murdered those people."

Parades also told Holt that he was now living in Midland, Texas, and had ended his friendship with Gonzalez. However, Holt said Paredes did not want talk to him beyond that and told him he did not want to be involved in the situation.

However, Holt traveled to Midland to meet with Paredes on July 27 after Paredes agreed to speak with him again, the investigator said.

According to Holt's testimony, Paredes told him during that meeting that he and Gonzalez had met as school kids and Gonzalez had later introduced him to Torres. Holt also said Paredes told him he had initially been closer to Gonzalez but had later drifted away from him and grown closer to Torres because Gonzalez had "anger issues."

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Holt said Paredes than told him that on a date Paredes believed to have been March 24, Gonzalez called Paredes while he was eating dinner and asked him to come alone to the Ruiz Auto Body shop, where Gonzalez worked. Gonzalez and Torres got into Paredes' car when he arrived and "advised him that there were two dead bodies inside the shop and they needed assistance transporting them."

Paredes also told Holt he assumed Torres and Gonzalez were trying to enlist his help because they wanted to transport the bodies in Paredes' dad's pickup, Holt said. Paredes then told him he asked the boys about where the bodies had come from and Gonzalez eventually offered multiple conflicting explanations.

Paredes said Gonzalez's initial explanation was that two unidentified masked people from Denver had brought the bodies to the shop while Gonzalez and Torres had been there and left them inside. However, Holt said Paredes told him this story later changed with Gonzalez instead telling him he had witnessed the men arrive and kill two people inside Ruiz Auto Body. Holt said Paredes also told him Gonzalez had said one of the men had fired a shot at him.

According to Holt, Paredes said Gonzalez and Torres said they could not call the police because the men had said they would harm their families if they did so. Paredes also told him Torres and Gonzalez said they could not move the bodies themselves because they were "too heavy" and that the bodies had been there for two days. McMinn and Macias disappeared on March 22.

Holt said Paredes told him he refused to help and told Torres and Gonzalez "if you were truly my friends you wouldn't be asking me to do this." At that point, Torres became apologetic, Holt said. However, the investigator said Gonzalez then became "very angry" and began threateningly striking his palm with his fist."

Holt said Paredes also told him this conversation had occurred before Paredes had heard about the disappearance of McMinn and Macias. Paredes denied getting out of the truck and seeing the bodies, Holt said, but told Holt Torres and Gonzalez said they had been wrapped in plastic on a tarp.

Holt said he later visited Midland a second time and spoke with Paredes' father, Jose Paredes Marquez. Marquez told Holt that his son had come home very upset and told him he needed to speak with him before hesitating to do so.

According to Holt, Paredes also told the investigators that he and Torres had used cocaine they purchased from Macias. Paredes said he had been present for drug transactions between Gonzalez and Macias but not seen the actual transactions.

Holt also spoke during his testimony about texts between Gonzalez and Torres in which Torres said Paredes did not want to talk to him anymore because he was "disappointed." Holt said he did investigate but did not find any evidence of shots being fired in the shop during their searches.

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